The invention disclosed herein relates to an improved garage door closer that will automatically act to close a garage door that is left open for a specified period of time to prevent unwanted access to the garage.
Most residences are provided with garages which are either separated from the main residence or are directly connected to the house or through a breezeway, and have a connecting doorway from the garage into the house for entrance or egress therefrom; the garage having space for one or more vehicles. Of these garages, many have one or more overhead garage doors which travel on pairs of generally parallel tracks at the sides of the door opening from a closed vertical position to a substantially horizontal open position a short distance below the ceiling of the garage. Although a garage door may be manually opened or closed by the owner, the vast majority are provided with a reversible electric motor for raising and/or lowering the door, the motor being actuated by a wall switch on a wall of the garage or through a remote radio transmitter carried in the vehicle to send a signal from the vehicle driver to a receiver operatively connected to the motor to open or close the door. Thus, in inclement weather conditions, the driver is not obligated to leave the vehicle to open or close the door.
One problem with an automated overhead garage door is that, occasionally the door is unintentionally left in the open position when leaving the garage. When this happens, the security of the residence may be compromised by unauthorized entry into the garage and/or access to the house by burglars by breaking into the house through the connecting door leading from the garage to the house. Obviously, such a security breach is unwelcome and may result in property losses of objects stolen from the garage and/or house.
There have been a number of proposed solutions to this problem, however, many of the solutions are mechanical in nature and require specially manufactured parts. Also, electronic solutions to the problem have been suggested, but these systems lack versatility and have disadvantages regarding power supply and limitations in the timer function. Further, problems may occur with a premature closing of the garage door that might result in the door closing on a vehicle or locking a person out of his house. The present invention overcomes these problems in a simplified solution for automatically closing the garage door and is in conformity with United Underwriters Laboratory regulations.
The present invention relates to a novel and improved automated garage door closing device including a variable timing mechanism, optical sensor, carbon monoxide detector and activation switch. The activation switch is mounted to the door support rail and triggered when the door reaches the open position. The timing device, carbon monoxide detector and optical sensor, which are mounted in an enclosed case, are attached to the door support rail approximately eighteen inches from the garage floor. The sensor is directed to the opposite end of the door opening to a reflector mounted at the same height. The timing device is powered by a twelve-volt DC power supply, and two wires are attached to the activation switch previously described to activate the device when the door is opened. The timing device has a terminal for attaching two wires to the door opener that activates the door opener when a relay in the timing device is activated. The terminal can also be substituted with a radio transmitter that can learn the code of the door opener to eliminate the need for wires.
When the garage door is opened, the timing device is ready for the sequence of events. The timer that activates the door opener will not activate until a vehicle enters or leaves the garage. The timer is ready to be activated when the sensor is interrupted for at least three seconds or more. The activation of the timer takes place one second after the sensor returns to normal operation. The timer can be adjusted to activate the relay from thirty seconds to five minutes. When the timer is activated, an audible alarm provided in the unit will give an intermittent signal to warn the operator that the system is armed and that the door will automatically close. Shortly before closing, the alarm becomes more rapid in sound to announce the closing. If, during the closing of the door, an obstruction would occur returning the door to its open position, the closer device would automatically turn itself off. The automatic door closer cannot be activated again until the door is closed by the operator and remains closed for one and one-half minutes.
The unit also contains a carbon monoxide detector. If, after the timer closes the garage door and the engine of a vehicle is not turned off, dangerous carbon monoxide levels can build within the closed garage. When the level of carbon monoxide reaches the danger level, an alarm will sound and simultaneously this device will trigger the relay in the timing unit to activate the door opener and open the closed garage door.
A unique feature of this timing sequence is that it will allow a person or animal to pass through the sensor beam without activating the timer. This is important, allowing the user to use the open garage door as egress.
After an arriving or leaving vehicle activates the timing device and the sensor beam is interrupted again, the device will be deactivated. This is a safety feature to eliminate the possibility of entrapping a person or animal in the garage. The unit will remain deactivated until the user closes the overhead garage door and it remains closed for at least one and one-half minutes. When the garage door is reopened, the timing device is again ready for its sequence of events. The unit also has a manual switch that can be used to deactivate the unit when the overhead door is in the open position.